“It depends.” That is what you’ll hear when asking about the U.S. university admission process. With over 4,000 universities in the United States and no standard application system, the U.S. admission process can be confusing for everyone, but especially for students applying from other countries.
This course will help international students (non-U.S. citizens) and non-native English speakers navigate the U.S. university admission process by offering practical information about the documents and pieces that make up a U.S. university application. More importantly, admission officers will discuss how they use those pieces to decide who is accepted and who is denied, so that you can understand the process beyond the pieces.
By the end of this course, you will understand application basics that include researching schools, creating a school list, and establishing an application plan. This course will not answer all of your application questions, but it will teach you to ask the right questions of yourself and the universities. Ultimately, you will have all the information you need to start your process the right way, putting you on the path to acceptance.
* Please note, while the English Language Programs are part of the University of Pennsylvania, this is not a course about applying to Penn. Furthermore, this course is intended for international students educated in the national curriculum of their country. While other students are welcome to enroll, the course is not intended for American students or students studying in an American, International Baccalaureate, or Advanced Placement curriculum. The course is also intended for students who do not have access to university counseling – if you attend a school that offers university counseling, your counselor is the best source of information on applying to university. Finally, this course is for undergraduate (Bachelors degree) freshmen (students who have not attended any university) applicants. Undergraduate transfer applicants, students who have attended a university, will find some of the information helpful, but graduate (Masters and Doctoral) applicants will not.

From the lesson

The U.S. Admissions Process

The first step to studying in the USA is to understand the application and admissions process in the U.S. How to apply to colleges and universities in the U.S. is probably very different than the university admissions process in your home country. One big difference is the importance of “fit,” and how fit plays a different role among the 4,000+ U.S. colleges and universities. In this module, you will begin to learn about the U.S. admissions process, including how schools evaluate international applications, U.S. college admission requirements, and how schools decide who to accept (it is not all about SAT or ACT scores like many students think). You will also begin to explore yourself so that you can look beyond the "top" colleges and universities to identify schools based on “fit,” a big step toward being accepted into U.S. colleges and universities.